Photography by theonlydeadheadinthehameau

Here in rural France, old cartwheels that are way past their sell-by date are a common sight. This one was spotted in the nearby village of Saint-Martial-sur-Isop, during the ‘Wool Festival’, which accounts for the natty headgear.

Like much of France, it’s been cold and we’ve had some snow recently. As a result, these old cartwheels (and birdbath) that sit at the back of our house were looking pretty chilled last week – and not in a good way.

I see that the topic of ‘wheels’ has come around again (as it were) in this week’s Black & White challenge. The annual cavalcade of vintage agricultural vehicles at Lesterps guarantees plenty of interesting wheels.

This week we focus on images that, with a healthy disregard for the rule of thirds, are intended to be placed in the middle of the frame: to be literally the centre of attention.

This image was taken looking down a corridor in the cellars of a wine-producing chateau in the Bordeaux region:

Flowers are a very obvious ‘centre-friendly’ subject – particularly when photographing buds, before the petals start to compete for space in the frame:

Also, of course, anything circular has an obvious central focus, be it wheels or even fireworks:

And finally this is just one of my most favourite images: it was taken looking directly upwards to the ceiling of the reception area of the Sir Bani Yas Hotel in Abu Dhabi. Those lanterns are between six and eight feet high when you see them sideways on from the second floor.